


I can’t stand there and watch you burn

by thisisamadhouse



Series: In every universe you and I are soulmates [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/M, Witch Hunts, mentions of an attempted sexual assault
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 21:19:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13960248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisamadhouse/pseuds/thisisamadhouse
Summary: They are coming for her with torches and pitchforks, like they did years ago for her mother, and there is no one to help her, or is there?





	I can’t stand there and watch you burn

She is curled up in a corner of the little hovel she shares with her sick father, trying to stifle her cries as to not attract his attention. Although, she is not sure he would even realise what’s going on, he is getting weaker by the day, no matter how hard she tries to nurse him back to health.

They are coming for her with torches and pitchforks, like they did years ago for her mother. She should flee, she should run and try to save her life, but she can’t leave her father behind, she can’t abandon him when he isn’t strong enough to fend for himself. Not that she will be much help to him when she’s dead.

They burned her mother at the stake for being a witch, came for her in the middle of the night and paralysed her with some kind of powder provided by a fairy (and Regina never really understood why it was alright to ask for a fairy’s help while witches had to die), leaving a screaming, five-years-old Regina struggling in her father’s arms, tears and snot running down her face as she desperately called for her mother to be given back to her, never to be heard. They will do the same to her on the very day she realised she has magical abilities too.

She was on the market, keeping her head down, minding her own business as she has always done. She always tries not to be noticed, to be invisible, but today it didn’t work. Today, one of the village’s good-for-nothing drunk decided that he couldn’t live another day if he didn’t get to put his dirty hands on her. He surprised her, attacking her from behind, and she dropped her full basket on the ground. His hands were everywhere and she fought him, but he was stronger, and she screamed and kicked, but no one helped, they just watched or turned away.

It was then that she felt it, this flow, this powerful flow, warming her from the inside out, making her aware of every capillaries, every vessels, every veins and arteries, every muscles in her body. The heat intensified, and she couldn’t contain it, it started to hurt and she felt like the only way to make it stop hurting was to let it out.

A wave of energy left her, knocking the man hard to the ground, leaving her free and shaking, trying to catch her breath. She looked down at the guy at her feet, he was unconscious, a trickle of blood on the side of his head where it hit a rock. She heard whispers and saw people starring and recoiling from her in fear. She grabbed her basket and fled, running as fast as she could back home, tears blinding her vision.

She managed to cook something for her father, her movements automatic, needing no thoughts. She helped him to eat, but didn’t save a bite for herself, nausea and a cold sweat causing her to curl up the moment her father closed his eyes. She hasn’t moved since.

She thinks she hears voices outside in the distance, and she wonders if she is imagining it. She wonders how long she has left. She wonders how her mother felt in her last moments, if she was as scared as Regina is right now. Probably not, Cora was strong, proud, she would have never shown fear, she would have never begged her captors for her life.

Regina, though, Regina would be ready to do anything if it meant staying alive and getting to take care of her father and holding his hand until the very end.

A dull noise makes her jump and then freeze in terror. Are they here already? She waits, unmoving, paralysed. The bedroom’s door creaks open and a silhouette appears in its frame. She closed the shutters as soon as her father was asleep with the foolish hope that people would think her gone, and with the night now having fallen, she can’t distinguish the intruder’s features. Whoever it is cautiously peeks into the room, first noticing her father sleeping in the bed and then her, all pale, tear streaked face, in her uncomfortable position on the floor.

Regina can’t breathe as the shape moves into the room towards her.

A man, a young man, crouches in front of her and offers her a relieved smile.

“Milady, I was afraid I would be too late,” he says, and her eyes widen as she finally recognizes him. Robin of Locksley, the son of the lord owning this part of the lands, although he has always been closer to the villagers than to the nobles swarming in and out of his father’s castle. “You need to leave, a large crowd is coming for you for some alleged claim that you are a witch, and they don’t seem to listen to reason. You can’t…”

“But I am,” Regina whispers, and he frowns at her. “I am what they say. I hurt that man. I am a witch,” this is the first time she says it out loud, the realization feels like a punch in the gut, and she doubles over, gasping.

“Milady, listen to me, I can help you but we have to move fast,” Robin breaks in, cupping her cheek, forcing her to look at him.

She observes him, suddenly wary, because why would he do that?

“I can’t let them do this. I can’t stand by and do nothing while they kill an innocent,” he answers when she voices her question.

“But I am not an innocent!” She exclaims. “I hurt that man, who knows what I'm really capable of. I felt that power coming out of nowhere, and I couldn’t control it. What if it happens again?” She asks desperately, clutching the lapels of his coat.

He opens his mouth to answer, but stops when her father moves on the bed, turning on his side.

“We will find a way,” he resumes quietly, after they’re sure the older man isn’t waking up. “We will,” he asserts when she shakes her head disbelievingly. “There is always a way, but letting them take you and kill you, that’s not right.”

“I can’t just leave, what about my father? What will happen to him? He is sick, he can’t take care of himself,” she argues, and she doesn’t know why she does, because he is trying to save her life, but it’s not just her life, is it?

“Let me help you and your father. Please, let me do this for you,” he pleads, his intense blue eyes are all warmth and concern, and she can’t remember the last time a human being not related to her by blood has looked at her like that.

“Why is it so important to you? Why do you care about what happens to me?” Regina wants to know. Robin sighs and rubs the back of his neck, looking away.

“Years ago, when I was just a boy, I stood amongst the crowd who took away your mother. I could do nothing but watch as you tried to stop them. Your screams have haunted me for years. I have kept an eye on you from afar. They all rejected you for what your mother supposedly was, they never gave you a chance, but you never complained, you lived your life among them, kept to yourself. I know you never meant to hurt that man, you were protecting yourself. He is the one who should be punished, he was actually.” Robin’s gaze turns dark as he says this, fists clenching as he remembers just how he got revenge on her behalf on that low-life who dared to touch her without her consent.

“You… you did this? For me?” She stammers and he nods.

“That’s why it took me so long to get here. I couldn’t let him get away with what he did to you,” he replies and when he cups her cheek again, it’s tender and she leans into his touch. “But we need to go, I will take care of your father, I promise you, when it’s safe I will find a way to reunite you. Trust me,” he implores.

She looks between her father’s still form and the young man starring at her. She nods, closing her eyes for a moment to stop her tears from flowing again.

“Can you tell my father that I love him and I’m sorry for leaving him behind?” He mumbles.

“I will and he will understand,” he assures. “Come with me,” and he holds his hand out for her to take. A leap of faith, and she gets up with his help.

He leads her outside of the hovel and she can hear the angry voices clearly this time. There is a horse standing there. He takes her in his arms to sit her on the horse.

“I have friends in the forest who will protect you, my horse knows the way. Don’t stop until you’re with them, tell them I sent you, they’re expecting you,” she has trouble wrapping her head around what he is saying but she nods dutifully.

He seizes her hand and gives it a fleeting kiss. “Be safe, Milady. We will see each other again,” he declares, before slapping the horse and sending it galloping.

She looks back at him until he is too far away for her to see and she sends a silent prayer that both he and her father will be alright.


End file.
